Chalky - The Chalkboard Car

I spent most of the day this past Sunday at the rolling sculpture car show in Bee Caves, TX at the Hill Country Galleria. Over 200 cars showed up, making it a huge show! I arrived around 10 in the morning and the staff directed me to park anywhere, so naturally I took up a spot that gave the car plenty of room for people to walk around and draw on. I had a blast just sitting by Chalky car and watching people draw all sorts of random things throughout the day, and talking to those who were curious about the story behind the car.

I remember when I was young my father would take me to local car shows, and not having much of an attention span at a young age, cars just seemed like cars at the time. If there were a giant canvas of a car to doodle on, it would have made those a blast! I could definitely tell the majority of those who thought my car was the coolest fell in the ‘not old enough to drive’ range.

When I walked through the show I noticed a few cars with hand prints from observers, and the owners trying so hard to make the car look shiny and spotless throughout the day. I even witnessed a man moving a Lamborghini style door on a Chrysler Crossfire to see how the hinges worked and the owner quickly running up to him and saying ‘can you please not touch the car’ with a pretty stern tone. (I mean come on, its a crossfire, nothing special) Now, I know there is an unwritten rule about ‘do not touch’ at car shows, but even with a high end car I would hope owners would engage with enthusiasts instead of running them off from breathing too heavily on their prized possession. It just makes me more proud about bringing my car out to shows for OTHERS to enjoy, it’s always a blast to see people actually interact with it!

Anyway, here are some pics of Chalky car as well some select favorites at the show!

So Chalky has been taking a small hiatus. In the past few weeks the car’s health has taken a turn for the worse, but there is hope! I have invested in a plethora of tools and equipment to get Chalky running in tip top shape again. Once everything is running correctly, the final phase will be to smooth out the body work and give Chalky a new paint job, what exactly it will look like will remain a surprise until completion! Also, the car will be getting a like-new engine which is larger in displacement, equaling more horsepower!

Here is a list of everything to be done over the next month or two:

- 2.5L to 3.0L engine swap

- Rebuild transmission with performance upgrades

- Replace brake discs and pads

- Replace strut/shock absorbers

- Replace steering linkages

- Reupholster interior

Also, I will be taking Chalky to a local car show next weekend (Oct. 23rd) in the Bee Caves area. More information about the show to come in a few days.

Saturday morning I attempted my first shot at washing the car to see how well all the chalk would come off. It seems like about 90% of the drawings came off, and that the paint is too rough to really use an eraser or towel to get the rest of off. A sad realization is that I am going to have to redo the paint job soon and actually wet sand the finish so it comes out smoother, that should help the cleaning process between car washes.

With a decently fresh canvas ready, I headed over to the car show at Promiseland Church on 51st street. I took a spot toward the back of the lot, and set up the car. Within no time a group of other car show participants walked over to try their hand at drawing on the car, followed by half a dozen kids scribbling all over their drawings and the rest of the car. Throughout the show it was interesting to watch the reactions of those who first set eyes on the vehicle and see them take in that they are 100% allowed to draw all over the car. Lots of smiles happened that day! By the end of the show the car was completely covered. I didn’t get as many ‘artistic’ pieces as I had hoped for, but I guess that is the fun part about this project, it’s only a matter of time before a stranger draws an entire mural on the side of the car.

Here are some pics from the show:

The car has now had a full week of tagging. Tomorrow morning I will be washing it all off and driving to a local car show! It will start as a blank canvas and hopefully by the end of the show there will be no blank space available. Pictures will of course follow at the end of the day tomorrow :)

Here are the results at the end of week 1:

Once the paint had cured on the car, I decided to christen the hood with the first chalk drawing. A giant Hyrule crest from the classic Nintendo game “The Legend of Zelda”. Not long after, my friends went to work covering the car in all sorts of things from a couple hundred decimal places of PI wrapping around the car, to labeling various parts of the vehicle, and all sorts of works of art to give personality to the rolling chalk board. In about 24 hours time, the car had something on every side, and this was the result:

On August 20th, 2011 I decided to finally pull the trigger and paint my car. The idea started long ago, getting inspiration from an old coworker who had converted an 80’s VW MK4 Gti into a rolling chalkboard back in 2005. I had not seen any vehicles of the sort around Austin, and having only lived in ATX for a year, and observing the vast amount of creative minds here, I thought a chalkboard car would be well accepted into the community!

The project started by prepping the car, which took about a full day of work. Plates were removed, the car washed and sanded of it’s original clear coat. Next came the masking so that the paint would not touch any glass parts or wheels. The next day followed with a primer coat and finally the main coatings of chalkboard paint. After an hour of relaxing in air conditioning since all work was done in 100+ degree weather, all masking was removed and the Chalky car was born.

Here are some photos of the stages during the paintjob: